This was really fun. It captured a lot of thinking on a topic I've been interested in for a while as well.
The discussion about converting to a vector format was an interesting diversion. I've been experimenting with using potrace from inkscape to migrate raster images into SVG and then use animation libraries inside the browser to morph them, and this idea seems like it shares some concepts.
One of my favorite films is A Scanner Darkly, and that used a technique called rotoscoping which I recall was a combination of hand tracing animation and computers then augmenting it, or vice versa. It sounded similar. The Wikipedia page talks about the director Richard Linklater and also the MIT professor Bob Sabiston who pioneered that derivative digital technique. It was fun to read that.
Technically it's "interpolated rotoscoping" using a custom tool called Rotoshop, which takes vector shapes drawn over footage then smoothly animates between the frames giving a distinct dream-like look to it.
Rotoscoping is where you work to a traditional animation framerate drawing over live action but each frame is a new drawing and doesn't have the signature shimmery look Scanner Darkly and Waking Life so I think it's worth pointing out the distinction.
The discussion about converting to a vector format was an interesting diversion. I've been experimenting with using potrace from inkscape to migrate raster images into SVG and then use animation libraries inside the browser to morph them, and this idea seems like it shares some concepts.
One of my favorite films is A Scanner Darkly, and that used a technique called rotoscoping which I recall was a combination of hand tracing animation and computers then augmenting it, or vice versa. It sounded similar. The Wikipedia page talks about the director Richard Linklater and also the MIT professor Bob Sabiston who pioneered that derivative digital technique. It was fun to read that.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Sabiston